The Viking town of Wexford has got its heart back with the opening of a newly extended quay front to replace the century-old "Woodenworks" which was at the centre of a preservation campaign in the 1980s.
The project, which cost £17 million and took four years to complete, has received the unanimous approval of townspeople who are availing of the new amenity for strolling, sitting, dog-walking and sea-gazing.
The harbour front has served as the focal point of the town for countless generations but was closed to the public in early 1986 to facilitate the major construction contract.
"I haven't heard one negative comment about it," said a satisfied town clerk, Mr Don Curtin, who previously fielded strong criticism about Wexford Corporation's "civic vandalism" in demolishing the 120-year-old wooden boardwalk which was unique in Ireland.
The proposal to remove the "Woodenworks" came about in the early 1980s after the boardwalk had been allowed to fall into disrepair. CIE was responsible for its upkeep after being given permission in 1976 to install a railway track along the harbour front.
The company insisted it would be too costly to restore the rotting boardwalk and by the time the corporation came to take it up four years ago, large sections had already been uprooted for safety reasons.
Fine Gael's Ms Avril Doyle, the only Wexford politician to support the "Save the Woodenworks" campaign, said shortly after her election to the European Parliament last year that she regarded it as an environmental tragedy. She has some of the original sleepers in her garden in Crossabeg.
This week she declared of the new quay front: "It's lovely. I never had any doubt that it would be. I still lament the Woodenworks from a built heritage point of view. It was unique in the island of Ireland. But that debate was lost. It wasn't to be. In terms of a modern structure, I think the new facility is lovely."
Mr Denis Collins, the artistic director of Wexford Arts Centre who led the call for its preservation, also gave his verdict: "I think it's very good. The restoration of the Victorian wooden quay front would have been better but what's there now is a reasonable replacement."
The quay front was extended as part of a badly needed £50 million drainage scheme with one of the anticipated spin-offs being the provision of badly needed parking spaces. But the car-park plan was dropped after Iarnrod Eireann quoted what was considered a prohibitive amount for installing signals and safety barriers to allow vehicles to cross the tracks.
It was a fortunate development, according to borough engineer Mr Tom Fahy. "By the time the project was 90 per cent complete, most people felt that cars would only spoil the project anyway," he said. Car-parking will be allowed on a section at the south end of the town.
When an unfinished portion of the quay closer to the Crescent is opened in time for the Wexford Festival Opera in October, it will create a spacious six acres of open space featuring a new wooden walkway to be enjoyed by locals, visitors and trawler fishermen who have been provided with a working dock along the harbour front.
"That's six acres compared to two metres wide of walkway," explained Mr Curtin.